Our Hearts' Desire (The Monkees Family Vol. 2)

Chapter 44

Gabby and Micky were re-married in Dawn and Peter's backyard, where it all began, their reconciliation and the healing of their relationship. Dawn had offered to host the reception at her house as well, and Gabby gratefully accepted once Dawn allowed Gabby to insist that everything be catered and staffed to the nth degree so that Dawn wouldn't have to lift a finger. The Monkees family were all there, which should have been a certainty, but there had actually been high drama in the weeks prior to the ceremony. Mike and Wendy had sent regrets as their RSVP.

Gabby was of a mind to just let it go and let them have their snit, but Micky absolutely would not tolerate it. He went storming over to Mike's Pacific Arts studio one day and asked to speak with him. Fortuitously, Wendy wasn't there at the moment, and he was treated to Mike's version of the story, which Micky knew was a lie fed to him by Wendy. Micky corrected the record on several misconceptions Mike had about what led to Wendy deciding to have an abortion, how it came to be that Gabby was involved, and informed him about how Gabby and her neighbor were the ones who made the difference between Mike having a living wife or being a widower.

Mike was stunned and ashamed when he heard the truth. Stunned that Wendy would so coldly abort his baby, he was right back to the feelings he was experiencing that night of the incident, before Wendy had had a chance to concoct her lies to dish the responsibility off on Gabby. He was ashamed that he had fallen for Wendy's lies and had so easily bought into the notion that Gabby was capable of such treachery as persuading his wife to have an abortion without consulting her husband and hiding it in such an elaborate web of deceit. He cried and howled and punched walls and raged and heaped scorn on Wendy. He was full of plans to tell her off and divorce her and kick her out of the business and have his revenge. He also apologized sincerely for his terrible treatment of Gabby, which Micky accepted.

Micky let Mike wail and yell and get it all out of his system, then he sat him back down and began to speak to Mike like he would a person who just walked into an AA meeting for the first time. "Mike, listen, you're full of hurt, anger and distress. You need to accept that you're not thinking rationally right now, that you're just operating on feelings. There's nothing wrong with that, but don't do anything yet that will cause irreparable damage to your life or Wendy's. Take some time to think it out, and try to work it out with her. You should first figure out exactly how you feel about this and then tell her, but you should also try to figure out what your part was in it."

Mike looked at Micky through his tears. "Mah part? What the hell do you mean? I didn't make her go behind mah back. I always supported her and her ambitions. I never told her she couldn't still keep on workin' even if we had kids."

Micky shook his head. "Yeah, Mike, but did you ever specifically ask Wendy if she was willing to have kids? I mean like, did you ever talk about it before you proposed to her? You guys used to give me and Gabby a ration of shit all the time when we were dating because we'd talk about that endlessly and it took us forever to make a commitment because we always got hung up on the kids thing. But we took it seriously. It's a huge issue and it had to be dealt with. So I'm asking you – did you ever once confirm positively with Wendy whether she was willing to have children with you?"

Mike blinked away the tears and tried to think back, trying to grab hold of a definite, positive, affirmative yes but found none. Finally, he shook his head and said "Well, I guess if you put it that way, then no, we never actually talked it out and said 'Roger that, we're gonna have kids.' It's just somethin' I'd talk about and she'd go along with it and didn't say she wouldn't have kids. So that's like her lyin' to me isn't it, Micky?" His face began to wobble with more tears on the way but also tighten with anger again.

Micky conceded "Yeah, it's a lie of omission, but you know what, pal, it's still on you that you made that assumption. It's like fucking a girl and assuming she's on the pill just cuz she tells you she's on it. Unless you've seen the pill pack on her nightstand table, you'd best be carrying a rubber in your wallet."